Family business took up much of Tuesday, but I still managed to get in a couple of hours of birding late in the day.  Saanichton Spit was the destination, and the near-sunset was gorgeous.  However, as I approached the spit, there was something particularly foul going on.  For as long as I can remember, there has been a sewage treatment plant adjacent to the spit.  Usually, you wouldn’t even notice it, but not so on Tuesday night.   I fixed the septic system on my van and worked on the septic system for my house, but this was sewage on steroids.  I’m not sure I’ve ever been so overwhelmed.  I quickly moved to the beach in the hopes of fresher air.

The water of the strait was so calm, you could easily count every bird between the spit and James Island.  Easily, because there weren’t that many.  The angle of the sun made the bills and crests of the Rhinoceros Auklets just glow, and there was one particularly odd duck.  A  late Long-tailed Duck was cruising along, much closer to shore than they are usually seen.

A couple of guys with a large dog passed me, pretty much eliminating any chance for seeing shorebirds, so I headed inland and chased Savannah Sparrows with slightly strange songs for a while.  Thankfully by the time I got back to my car, the sewage treatment plant was functioning again On my way home, my phone rang. It was Jody Wells calling from Saanichton Spit where he had seen an odd duck.  I impressed him with my clairvoyance and told him it was a Long-tailed!  He was hoping he had found an eider for my big year list.

Wednesday was a day of real highs and lows.  I got on the road mid-morning and caught up with Mary Robichaud near Pike Lake.  She had just scored her Willow Flycatcher for the year and shared it with me.  We headed up to Goldstream Heights with the faint hope of finding a Cassin’s Finch.  Stu Clarke had photographed one in his yard near Shawnigan Lake on Monday evening. Years ago, I’d received a report of one at the KOA Campground on the Malahat.  Maybe they frequent the area more often than we think.

There were lots of birds singing–mainly MacGillivray’s Warblers, Pacific-slope Flycatchers and American Robins, but nothing out of the ordinary.  We couldn’t find the cougar that Mary’s son Dave photographed a couple of evenings ago.  We decided to explore some of the trails in the area.  A trail near the Elkington Forest development took us to a small lake that looked perfect for a Spotted Sandpiper, but none appeared.   The area had a lot of butterflies, including some I had never seen before.  I was able to identify one, but I’ll need help from some of my leppers to ID the second.

A tour around Shawnigan Lake included a brief stop at the provincial park.  The lake was amazingly quiet for such a lovely day.

We parted ways at Goldstream Park–well, sort of.  The new configuration of the highway requires you to go 5km north before you can turn around if you park along the road at Goldstream.  Mary went off in search of a pheasant (which she found) and I headed to Esquimalt Lagoon.

One walk I had never done was between Esquimalt Lagoon and Albert Head Lagoon.  This section is much less popular than either lagoons, and I thought might be my best chance for a new shorebird.  Along the way, I ran into a few dog-walkers and passed by a group of twenty-somethings who had started their party early.  There were very few birds.  About half-way along, just below the gravel pit, I noticed a man with a hat walking towards me about 150m away.  I don’t think he noticed me at that point, but I decided to take an alternate path.  I didn’t really have a problem about the man with the hat, but sometimes having binoculars, a scope and camera can feel a little awkward.   After all, all he had was a hat! 😉

Eventually, he did notice me and hurried back to his clothes and towel.  Just as well, as there were several other people coming along from both directions.  One couple pointed out a trio of river otters hunting and playing near the shore.

 

They had no problem finding lots of fish to eat.  After using a lot of digital card space on the otters, I continued back towards my car.

I could see the party group and what two of them were doing made me feel sick and my blood boil. Two of the men were digging into the bank with long sticks.  Northern Rough-winged Swallows were flying all around them, but they just kept going.  I started yelling at them, but I was too far away.  I hurried towards them as the men continued bashing at the sand. Finally I got close enough for them to hear me.

“What do you think you are doing?” I yelled.

“We’re just digging holes.”

“No, you are not.  You are destroying bird nests.  That’s against the law!  I could call the police right now and you’d be charged!”

“We didn’t know. We thought they were marmot holes.”

And that’s when the impromtu science lesson began.

“How were we supposed to know there were nests in there?”  They acknowledged that they had wrecked them and said that they were trying to put things back. Right.
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I had to think fast.  I wanted them to listen to what I was saying.

“You guys look smart (I lied).  Surely you know some science!”

One of them responded, “We don’t know shit!”

Well, let me tell you, I thought.

For the next ten minutes, they got a lecture on swallow nests, migration, site loyalty, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Canadian Species at Risk Act.  One of the men said that his construction boss had told him to knock down some swallow nests on the side of a building but he hadn’t done it yet.  I told him to save himself the effort and just let his boss know that it was illegal.

I took a picture of the nests before I left.  The swallows were no longer around.  I hope there is enough time in the season for them to try again.

 

Once I was a good distance away, I thought it would be good to grab a picture of the group as well.  I tried to discretely fire off a few shots.  There was one young women with the men.  She had been silent throughout the whole confrontation.  I wondered what she thought of the whole thing, why she hadn’t spoken up when the men were wrecking the nests.  I thought about calls for women to be better mentors and role models, in the world of birding and beyond.  I though that maybe it was a good example for her to see me  – on my own – confront 8 (!) men (with beer) about something wrong that they were doing.  When I reviewed the photos when I got home, I think I got my answer!  Shaking my head…

 

For the record, it was the two men standing in the above photo that did the damage.  Anyone know who they are?

 

I can only hope that there may be a family or two of Barn Swallows that may be allowed to survive as a result of all of this.  Maybe these yahoos won’t feel the need to dig out holes in the future.  Or maybe they’ll just be afraid that some crazy woman might give them another lecture.  I’m okay with that!

There will be many rare bird sightings on Vancouver Island over the next few days.  I am heading to Boardman, Oregon to check the owl nests at the tree farm.  If you find something good, please save it for my return!